Dark Embrace
by GuardianSaiyoko
Summary: City of Angels where demons rule, and the redemption of all their kind...This can be read as an AU or as a sequel to Hurricane. Pairings undecided.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I got Dissidia for my birthday. It made me wanna work on some of my FFVII stuff again. It all needs a revamp, but I'm startin' with this one and Mako Dreams 'cause I'd gotten really into them at one point. Also, I know Tifa's crazy OOC in the beginning here; bear with me, it'll get explained eventually.

* * *

**Dark Embrace**

**Prologue

* * *

**

I slammed into the wall, my head flying back to bounce off the slick surface, black spots bursting in my vision. I sprang back to my feet, shook my head with an angry growl, and lunged at my opponent. I caught him with a flying tackle and pinned him to the ground, panting, baring my teeth and hovering with them poised just over his throat. The wolf, one of Sephiroth's, growled, and I tried to keep calm. If I won, the pack was likely to keep my food from me for a week or so until Tifa noticed. If I lost, the alpha would beat me. Great choices, aren't they.

I'm not particularly fond of living with a pack of werewolves, but in the Citadel, to live alone is to sign a death warrant. Tifa's pack may not like me, but it's in their own best interests to keep me alive. Maybe not perfectly healthy- when you're half-starved, you'll take down anyone for food- but alive. The ten-count ended and I released the wolf with one last warning growl. I limped cautiously out of the arena into the back, where I could pause to lick my wounds before I had to report to Tifa.

I was pretty battered. While everyone in the Citadel lives in a group- the wolves in their packs, the vampires in their seethes, the kitsune in their tribes, and so on- only the wolves are allowed to fight as a group. The wolf I had taken out was the last of a group of four.

I leaned against the stone wall and shut my eyes briefly. I heard her feet on the stones in front of me, but I didn't look up.

A hand slapped across my face and I straightened slowly.

"You acknowledge your Alpha. You know that."

I opened my eyes and glared at Tifa. Smirking, she fastened the leash she held to my collar. "C'mon."

In the Arena, I'm the only one allowed to wear anything around my neck. The usual regulations say that necks have to be kept bare. However, since I'm the only human fighting in the arena, I wear a spiked collar. It protects my neck and marks me as one of Tifa's pack, as I don't have the wolf-scent that would normally serve that purpose.

I would just as soon be without it. I don't care for being led through the halls on a leash or locked up at night. The only time I'm free is in the arena, and even then I still have to wear this damned collar. Tifa says it's all safety measures but somehow I don't believe her.

The other fighters are pretty bitter about my collar. They say it's not fair to let me fight with protection. They were all told by Sephiroth, who runs the Citadel, that they should be able to get a collar off a human.

Tifa threaded through the halls to her pack's area. The Citadel is huge; you can go for weeks in here without ever glimpsing the sun.

"You've done well today, Yuffie." I glanced back at her. She smiled and I shivered inwardly. "A week from today, Sephiroth wants to fight you."

Well, shit.

"I want you to win," Tifa murmured dreamily. "I want you to win and bring our pack glory."

I scoffed. "And then Sephiroth would kill us all for humiliating him, and then where would you be?"

Tifa jerked hard on the leash and I choked. "How many times do we have to tell you to be silent! You are only a half-wild human. There are no more of your kind in By av Engel, much less the Citadel. You are lucky we allow you to live! You do not have the authority to speak!"

I straightened and glared. "I'm sure there are humans in By av Engel. Maybe not in the Citadel, but outside it, for sure. Actually, didn't one of Seph's old wolves turn out to be a human, hiding here?"

Well there goes my air again. Dammit, I should learn to keep my mouth shut.

...Nah.

Tifa chose to seethe silently this time. She shoved me into my room, a small one off the pack room, and locked the door. Sitting against the back wall, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to mock her.

"And stay in there!" I yelled, in a singsong mockery of the Alpha's voice. I laughed when I heard her punch the wall, snarling.

There was nothing in my room, and I do mean nothing. Through a screen on one side was a bathroom, with a shower and sink and toilet, so that I wouldn't have any excuse to go into the larger, warmer, pack room, but that was it. Stone walls, stone floor, empty bowl that occasionally had food in it. Not at the moment, and probably not for a while, since I'd just royally pissed off the Alpha.

With nothing else to do, I curled up and went to sleep.

I have strange dreams sometimes. I don't know why. I think they have to do with wherever I lived before I came here. I don't remember, but I came to the Citadel when I was young, but not that young...so I had to have lived somewhere else first...right?

This was one of the stranger dreams. I had this dream a lot. It was the one where I was laying in a field and talking to someone while staring at the sky.

_...Am I a monster?  
_

_No. You're not.  
_

_I'm not human.  
_

_Depending on your definition, none of us are._

_I held out my arm and watched scales trickle down it. I glanced over into blue eyes._

The field dissolved around me, becoming stone walls, and I woke up.

"Yuffie?" I shook my head, disoriented. Someone whispered my name again.

"What d'you want?" I muttered, and looked up.

There was an angel standing in my room.

This woman had brown hair, green eyes, and unmistakable white feathery angel wings. She smiled and pulled me to my feet. "Hi. I'm Aeris."

"But...but...there aren't any angels left..." I stammered, confused.

Aeris laughed lightly, a strange musical sound. "You didn't believe your Alpha when she said you were the only human. Why would you believe there are no angels? 'By av Engel' _does_ mean City of Angels."

"The City of Angels where demons rule..." I murmured, reciting what I had been taught as a child. Aeris laughed again.

"C'mon, I'm getting you out of here."

I blinked. "Um...why are you helping me?" I grew up in the Citadel. You do not grow up in the Citadel by trusting strangers.

Aeris shrugged as she folded her wings. They seemed to slide into her shoulders and vanish. "I'm in the habit of helping those who need it. Besides..." She looked unsure for the first time. "Cloud said he wanted me to get you out of here on this round. He said he doesn't want you facing off against Sephiroth."

I bristled. "I can handle him." Okay, so no, I couldn't. She didn't need to know that.

"I'm sure you can," the angel said wryly. "But Cloud swears you're not human, and he doesn't want Sephiroth to find out what you really are."

"...Which is?" She didn't answer me. She spread her wings again, enveloped me in them, and I had the strangest sense of falling into the sky. When we jarred to a halt and she swept back her wings, we were outside on a rooftop. The sun was setting, outlining the buildings in red and gold. I stared, breathless.

Aeris pointed towards a building far from where we stood. Gothic columns and spires arched from it. "That is the Citadel. You don't have to return there ever again, if you don't want to."

I turned to her. "So you didn't answer me. If I'm not a...a half-wild human," the words were bitter in my mouth, "what am I?"

A man's laughter made me turn back the other way. A man with insane blond hair and glowing blue eyes smiled at me.

"Cloud." Aeris sounded joyous. He waved to her, but he didn't take his eyes off me.

"You're definitely not a human. You're all wild, little Dragon."

* * *

**GuardianSaiyoko:** I blame this on a combination of too many werewolf books, too many vampire books, and the fact that an old friend seems to have convinced himself I'm at least half dragon if not more than that. He's a little crazy, but hey, it's fun. This can be read as either a sequel to Hurricane or as an AU, take your pick.


	2. Fledgling

**Dark Embrace**

**II. Fledgling

* * *

**

"I'm a dragon?"

Cloud smiled at me and his eyes appeared to glow brighter. I wondered what he was; a werewolf's eyes change color when they glow, and he didn't have angel wings, or a fox tail, or fangs, or really anything that would identify him as a particular species. Aeris could draw in her wings, but Cloud didn't smell like an angel.

"Technically speaking, you're a baby dragon. Very young for your species, and there's very few of you left." Cloud stepped closer. I heard Aeris' wings rustle briefly but didn't turn to face her. "If you fought Sephiroth, he'd know you were a dragon, and we'd never be able to get you away from him."

I stared at Cloud a moment. "Uh huh."

Then I walked to edge of the building and sat down, crossing my legs since I didn't feel comfortable dangling them over the edge.

We were very high up, and dragon or not, if I've got wings I've never seen them. I reached up and tugged absently at my collar. I would've liked to have claws, too; I'd have sliced that bastard in half years ago.

Cloud sat down beside me. Aeris had still not moved. He didn't say anything, just swung his legs over the side of the building and stared across the skyline.

"So if I'm a dragon..." I said slowly. Neither one of them moved. "If I'm a dragon, why do I look and smell human?"

"You don't." Aeris finally spoke. She sat down next to me on my other side. "No one in the Citadel has ever seen a true human-" For some reason, this made Cloud flinch. "- And of them all, only Sephiroth is anywhere near old enough to know a dragon-scent."

"Old enough...?" I trailed off.

See, I have no idea how old I am. None. For one thing, no one in the Citadel knew how humans aged. And I don't remember anything before being brought to the Citadel. I don't know how old I was then, or how long I'd been there now.

It's hard to judge time when you've rarely seen daylight.

Cloud leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "The last dragon, Cid Highwind, vanished from By av Engel over six hundred years ago. No one knows what happened to him."

There was a lie in that statement somewhere, but damn if I knew what it was.

Aeris laughed lightly. "He told us if we ever found another dragon, they should take the name Highwind as well. It might even be the thing that finally calls him back."

He told them?

Damn, these two were _old._

"...Damn, you two are _geezers_." Aeris laughed. Cloud scowled, but there was humor in his eyes.

"Anyway...you do look like a human, mostly, so Sephiroth wouldn't know the difference unless he fought you."

"...Difference?" I caught myself tilting my head around idiotically to see what Cloud meant. He laughed and laid a hand on my shoulder and I flinched away, wide-eyed. He pulled back hesitantly.

"Sorry. Um, your eyes are different. The pupils are slits, and you've got extra eyelids, like a cat. Human's eyes are..." he paused. "Human's eyes are like mine, only they don't glow."

I turned to face Cloud and stared at his eyes for a moment. He just sat and let me look. I raised a hand to his face without realizing and whispered without thinking, "What are you...?"

I dropped my hand, shaken, and looked away. "Ah, sorry." It's really, really rude to ask someone what they are. Normally I don't give a damn, but these were my rescuers, here. First impressions were important.

Cloud shook his head with a faint smile. I fought the impulse to dodge his hair.

What? It's sharp, damn it.

"It's ok," Cloud said quietly. "But, that's a conversation I'd rather not have right now."

I nodded, embarrassed to look at him. "Right. So...differences."

"Well, normally dragons have got a crest...here..." Aeris reached out to brush a hand across my neck, but I dodged without thinking about it and caught her wrist. I blinked and dropped it, ashamed.

"I...uh..."

Aeris shook her head. "No, it's okay. I should know better; Cloud was just as bad at the beginning." I glanced at Cloud sharply, but he was paying attention to something only he could see.

But, 'at the beginning?' Had Aeris taken Cloud from the Citadel, too?

"There should be a crest along your neck," Cloud said abruptly. "If you take off your collar, it should be visible."

I shook my head. "It doesn't _come_ off. Hojo put it on when I first came to the Citadel and he, I don't know, melded it to my neck or something."

Cloud cursed. Loudly and quite creatively. I mean, I learned some new words and I _think _there were a couple of references to sexual suggestions that I really don't think were possible. Unless you were extremely flexible. And probably not then. "Hojo...? Fuck. I knew this couldn't be this easy."

Aeris laid a hand on his shoulder. He reached back and laid his over hers, and she looked at me, her wings flaring in what I assume was a nervous gesture. "Hojo. How long were you around him?"

Confused, I tried to think of every time I'd ever been around Hojo. "Um, not long. I mean, Tifa got me and put this collar on, and then...uh...she brought me to him, and said something like 'I need you to make sure this stays locked.' Then he gave me something, a shot of something, I think, and I don't remember anything for a while...but when I woke up, I was back with Tifa's pack and the collar was solid, it wouldn't come off and it doesn't have seams or a latch or anything. I never saw Hojo again, but Tifa kept threatening me with him, she said she'd have him do worse or that she'd trade me to him if I lost..." I stopped, suddenly aware I was babbling. Cloud reached towards me again, but made sure I saw his movement.

I held myself as still as I could while he ran his hands over the collar, confirming what I'd already said. Finally I couldn't take it any more and jerked away.

"Yuffie," Aeris knelt next to me, "is there anything else, at all, that Hojo did?"

I was silent for a moment, then rolled up my sleeves and the ends of my pants. I was wearing the standard loose gray clothing of the wolves, so it was hanging off my frame to begin with.

Aeris looked dismayed when she saw the cuffs on my wrists and ankles. Cloud had returned to his cursing. Do go on, Cloud, you have no idea how you're expanding my vocabulary. "And, Hojo did this?"

I shrugged uncomfortably and let my clothes drop back down. "I actually don't know. I mean, they weren't there and then I had this strange fight..." I trailed off. "I was fighting one of Sephiroth's wolves, only he had traded him to Hojo, I think, cuz he was wearing Hojo's stuff 'stead of Sephiroth's blue," all the Alphas have different dress codes, "and I lost, pretty badly, I mean he beat me to hell, and when I woke up later I had these cuffs on. They were kinda glowin' at first, with these weird symbols on them, but I must have imagined that cuz they faded and I never saw them do that again." I shrugged. "I guess Hojo must have put them on, cuz they're made the same way as the collar, just without the spikes."

Cloud moved abruptly, so fast I didn't even _see_ him, much less dodge. He had both my wrists in his hands before I realized what he was doing. I jerked, panicked, but he held fast and stared at the cuffs. His eyes glowed brighter and symbols flared up along the cuffs. I think I growled or something, but I'm not sure. My ankles glowed too, then spikes shot from the cuffs, shredding my clothes where they hung too low. Cloud jerked back, cursing, and he brought his slashed hands to his mouth with a hiss. I stared at the cuffs; they matched the collar, now. They were the same solid iron interspersed with shining silver spikes.

Yeah, silver. The wolves were careful of my collar; I'd made a habit of twisting my head just enough to stab them with a spike. It wouldn't kill them, but it weakened them considerably. If my wrists and ankles had been spiked, too...Well, it would have made those fights a hell of a lot easier.

I looked at Cloud, who had bandaged his hands clumsily. I've got _no _idea where he got the bandage material from. Aeris sighed and I twisted back to look at her.

"Well," she said wearily, "normally, we'd take you to someone who could teach you, but since there isn't anyone..." She trailed off. Cloud stood up with a sigh.

"I guess you can come live with us, Yuffie. At least, till we find another dragon."

I leaned back and looked up at him, resting my weight on my elbows. "I thought Cid Highwind was the only other dragon? And no one's seen him in years?"

Cloud winced slightly. "Yeah..."

"So...you have no idea how long I'd be living with you."

"No, we don't. Cid might show up again, now that there's another dragon in By av Engel, or he might have died years ago." Cloud shrugged. "We've got no way of knowing."

Aeris stood up and flared out her wings. "So are you coming with us?"

I glanced down at my wrists and toyed with the spikes a minute. They looked cool, even with shredded cloth hanging from them. I held one up and thrust my arm forward experimentally, imagining one of Tifa's wolves in front of me, and grinned. I stood up slowly and let my arms drop to my sides, looking briefly at the matching spikes on my ankles, kicked experimentally. Nice. I straightened again, looked at Aeris, cocked my head and grinned.

"Yeah, I think I'd like that. Take me home."


	3. Settling

**Dark Embrace**

**III. Settling**

Aeris' home was small.

There were only three rooms. The main one was the largest and incorporated a kitchen, dining room and living room. Then there was a small main bedroom, and up a short flight of stairs an even smaller bedroom. Cloud said it was called a loft. The bathroom was off the main bedroom, but there was an odd path in from the smaller bedroom involving a ladder. Cloud said it was an added entrance since he'd gotten sick of waking Aeris. I'd already made use of the shower, cleaning the blood from the last fight and from the spikes on my wrists slashing Cloud's hands.

Aeris had brought us both to the apartment, then left again. I asked Cloud where she was going and he said he didn't know, sometimes she just left. Then he started showing me around the apartment, pointing out the things he knew would interest me. It was obvious he'd lived in the Citadel before; he knew exactly which things would seem strange to me.

There was one thing that bothered me the most, and Cloud immediately knew what it was.

Aeris' apartment had no door.

She'd teleported us in, and now that we'd been through the place, it was clear the only entrance/exit was from a window in the loft. That was no use to me unless or until I learned to fly, and no use to Cloud at all.

"It's because we have to stay hidden," Cloud said quietly. He was sitting on the bottom bunk. The loft had this weird futon-bunk-thing in it, with a queen sized futon on the bottom and a twin on top. Cloud had said it was his room and I was welcome to share it, unless I'd feel more comfortable sharing with Aeris. I hadn't answered him yet.

I was standing at the window, staring out. It was daylight again; I couldn't get enough of the sun. "I understand that, but..." My shoulders slumped. "But it still bothers me, you know? I was hoping I was done with being locked in."

Cloud shook his head. "You're only locked in until you learn to fly."

"And what about you?" I sat down next to him, bouncing slightly on the bed. "You can't fly. You can't like being trapped any more than I do."

He shrugged. "I don't. It's...complicated. Believe me, Aeris knows what she's doing."

"...She's been gone a while."

"I know."

"Where did she go, d'you think?"

"Probably to get food...We were getting pretty low."

Restless, I stood up again. Cloud laid down with his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. "So, I can room up here with you, or down there with her?"

"Yeah, it's up to you. Wherever you feel more comfortable." He shrugged, which looked strange with him lying on his back. "I know I like it up here better; it feels less like the Citadel, with the window and the way I've at least got the impression I can leave."

I looked back at him sharply. Something about the way he said that..."Hey, Cloud. How long have you lived with Aeris?"

"...Long time. Why?"

"Does she always keep you locked up?"

He shook his head. No. "I was outside earlier, wasn't I? When she got you."

"Yeah, but..."

Cloud twisted his head towards me, and his eyes were glowing brighter again. "Look, she means well, okay? Aeris has never lived in the Citadel. She doesn't know what it was like."

"So, tell her."

"...No. I don't want her to know."

I sighed. "Well, I think you're being an idiot, but I guess it's your decision. So, do you just get to go outside for, like, rescues? Or do you go out for other reasons, too?"

"I leave for rescues, and usually if I ask her Aeris lets me head out somewhere for a while."

"Usually? A while?" See, Cloud may have been fine with _usually_ and _a while_, but _Yuffie_ was not. No, I'd been outside and now I was finding I greatly preferred to be out there.

Cloud was surprisingly patient. "Yeah, if there's, say, a pack war going on, she doesn't want me to leave. And as for the part about 'a while'...well, that probably doesn't apply to you. It's...I'm..." He shook his head, apparently out of words. "I'm just...different, all right? Aeris has a reason for not wanting me outside for real long. I'll...tell you some other time."

"...I'd rather stay up here, with you."

Cloud blinked. "What?"

I turned back to him, sat down on the bed again. "I said I'd rather stay up here. You said it yourself, Aeris doesn't know what it's like to live in the Citadel. But you do. So, I guess I'm more comfortable around you."

After a moment he nodded. "All right. Top bunk's yours."


	4. Home

**Dark Embrace **

**IV. Home**

Cloud was making something he called sandwiches. I don't know exactly what was in them, but I know he said it was called baloney and cheese and that they smelled good. Especially the baloney.

I was sitting on the counter, swinging my legs back and forth and staring at the ceiling. I'd changed out of my pack uniform into some of Cloud's old clothing, since all of Aeris' stuff was a dress, pink, or all of the above. So, Cloud's ratty green sweater and old gray sweatpants for me.

Yes, I am aware that they clash. I didn't know that at the time, and besides that, I liked them. They were comfy.

So, back to the point. I was currently reveling in Cloud's clothes and Cloud's cooking. We'd been here for three days and Aeris still hadn't returned, but Cloud didn't seem too worried.

He was pretty good at staying occupied. He started teaching me this game he called Gamuku. It was basically a complicated version of tic-tac-toe- that's what he told me before realizing I didn't know what tic-tac-toe was- and you had to get more five-in-a-rows of your little x's than your partner did of his o's. We weren't even keeping score anymore, since the game had been running on and off for over twenty-four hours. I liked to think I was winning, but really I had no idea.

And of course, we talked a lot. That was strange for me. I like to talk, I talk to myself all the time, but I'd never had anyone to talk _to _before. The pack wasn't big on discussions with the human, y'know? So we talked a lot, and I was really enjoying myself.

"So how's the pack hierarchies at the Citadel now? Are Sephiroth's SOLDIERS still the best?"

"Yeah, and then Rufus' Turks are pretty good, too. I'd say either they're second, or my- Tifa's pack."

"Tifa's pack is AVALANCHE, right?"

"Yeah, always has been. How'd you know?"

"I knew her, years ago, when she was still a human."

"Human?"

"Yeah. Hey, the wolves all came from somewhere, right? And the vampires, too. The Turks all used to be human."

"Heh, I can't picture him human..."

"Him?"

"Reno. A... friend of mine, I guess. He's one of the Turks, but I liked him. He was nicer to me than any of my pack, anyway. Well, 'cept maybe Jesse."

"Who's Jesse? Come to think of it, who's in AVALANCHE, now? It's been a while."

"Um, Barret, Jesse, Biggs and Wedge. I know there's others but, Tifa trades a lot and I don't know anyone else's names. Those four have been there as long as I have or longer, so she must really like them."

"Tifa trades a lot? That doesn't seem like her."

"She didn't used to, but after I won my first few fights she got really obsessed with becoming the best in the Citadel. So she wanted the best possible group for the pack fights."

"All wolves, though?"

"Yeah, we had this kitsune, Reeve, for a while but it didn't work out well. Since AVALANCHE fights by the Midgar rules."

"Yeah, the Turks and SOLDIER and AVALANCHE are all part of the Midgar set, right? So it's solo fights only unless you're a wolf pack. Actually, wasn't there another pack in Midgar?"

"Yeah, there's the ShinRa pack as well. They're ranked dead last, though, and even ShinRa's son-"

"He _would_ be the only one to name a pack after himself..."

"Yeah, Rufus is his son, but he left and became Alpha of the Turks instead. The old Alpha, Tseng, doesn't seem to mind playing second."

"Hey, you said you were friends with a Turk. How'd that happen?"

"Heh, I beat the shit out of him in a fight. There was a power outage during it, though, this strange one that took out the whole Citadel- you know how the Arena locks down when the power's out? Well, we both got stuck together for almost a week. I ended up giving him blood cuz he wasn't doing so well going without it for that long. Reno's the only one I ever talked to as long as I have you. He's a jerk, but I like him anyway. We even fought as partners in the cross-fights."

"I caused that power outage, actually. Aeris and I were pulling off a rescue that week, Barret's adopted daughter, actually. She's with Nanaki's pack now- Barret doesn't want to leave yet."

"Nanaki?...Yeah, I can see Barret wanting to stay. He likes the fighting. He didn't speak to me much, but he wasn't cruel, either."

"Nanaki's the Alpha for the main pack in the city; our rescued wolves go to him. And Barret's basically a good guy."

Like I said, it was nice to talk to Cloud. He was eager to hear about the Citadel, too; I guess even after you leave, something about the place just stays with you.

It had been six days now.

I think Cloud was starting to get kind of worried, but I wasn't sure. I was having a problem with my spikes shredding blankets, so we were trying to come up with a way to fix that, (my blanket was just one gaping hole after another by now) when Cloud started acting weird.

He fell forward suddenly, bracing himself against the bed with one hand and then bringing his other hand up to his forehead as if to warn off danger. I knelt beside him.

"Cloud?"

"..." He didn't answer me. Worse, he started convulsing.

"Cloud! Cloud, are you okay?" Stupid question, yes, I know. "What's going on?" I caught his wrists, careful to keep my spikes away, and turned him towards me. His eyes were wide.

"Aeris," he gasped. "I- I need Aeris. A-aeris..."

I couldn't hold him still with just my hands on his wrists anymore, so I managed to wrap my arms around his chest instead, holding him with his back to me. "Aeris!" I yelled, hoping to god that she'd answer. "Aeris, help!" No response. Cloud jerked against me, slamming his head back into me. "AERIS!"

In a flash, she was kneeling in front of me, white feathers engulfing me and Cloud. She took one look at him, grabbed my hand, and slashed across my other hand with the spikes. I yelped.

"Hey-!"

She slashed Cloud's hand with the spikes, too, across the original cut, and quickly held my hand to his.

It's a damn good thing none of us are werewolves, with all this slashing of silver going on.

Cloud stopped thrashing, though, and went limp against me as our blood ran together. I stared at him as his eyes flared to glowing life briefly, then faded and turned dull. It was the first time I ever saw them stop glowing. I turned to Aeris to ask what was wrong with him when I started feeling like my head had been stuffed with fuzz. My vision grayed, then went entirely black.

The last thing I saw was Cloud's dull eyes.

Then I had a flash of memory, of when I had first been presented to Tifa as a member of her pack and she had me swear to her as my Alpha. There hadn't been a blood exchange then. In fact, I couldn't think of anything that would bring up that memory right now.

I woke up on the bedroom floor.

Aeris was seated on the floor at my side, Cloud's head in her lap. He was still unconscious and she still had her wings spread wide over us both; an angel reaction, I guess.

"Yuffie," she said softly. "You're awake."

I sat up, slowly, groaning as the blood loss let itself be felt in my rushing head. "Yeah. Yeah I am."

She reached an arm out and hooked it around me and I realized she was fighting back tears. "Yuffie, I know you must be confused. Cloud is...Cloud does this sometimes. When he, when he asked about Hojo...Hojo had him for a long time." Her hand, which had been brushing lightly through Cloud's hair, stilled for a moment. "A very long time..."

I didn't say anything. In all honesty, I was scared to say anything. I've met Hojo. I wasn't keen to ever spend so much as ten seconds around him. After all, the one time I did meet him, he welded a collar to my neck.

...Bastard.

Aeris started stroking Cloud's hair again. I stared at his closed eyes, hoping to never see them go dull like that again. I like Cloud. He's the only person, besides maybe Reno, that I could call a friend. And I'm not sure my vampire companion counted as a friend. Vampires tend to have a different idea of friendship. It freaks me out when Cloud's hurting like this and there's nothing I can do but scream for Aeris.

"Hojo... I don't know the details, unfortunately, or he might be better by now. I know that Hojo basically shattered his mind and reconstructed it."

I gaped at her. "_What!_"

Aeris smiled faintly at my reaction. After a moment I realized I'd ended up clutching Cloud's arm somehow and I let go.

"I don't know how he did it...but he got Cloud and his friend Zack, as ...gifts from Sephiroth, I think?" She sounded slightly unsure.

"Sephiroth does give his fighters as gifts sometimes," I said softly. "And, I think he has some sort of deal with Hojo. I know Hojo gets special fighters from somewhere, and he isn't trading them."

Aeris looked distinctly uncomfortable now. I only knew why this was because Cloud had discussed with me that outside the Citadel, people are not generally considered something that can be traded or given away. Inside the Citadel, it's fairly common, though I never changed Alphas personally.

"Yeah...So Hojo shattered their minds, then, before repairing any damage, he did...something...he did something to their bodies. Again, I don't know what exactly he did."

"So what _is_ Cloud?" I asked, even more quietly than my earlier statements. I wasn't really all that sure I wanted to know.

Wait, no, I did want to know. I guess curiosity is a dragon aspect. Or maybe it's just a Yuffie aspect.

"He was human, a long time ago. Now, I don't know." I blinked.

"'Cloud is human?"

"_Was_ human," she corrected gently. "Hojo did some kind of experiments on him and Zack. I don't know what he could be called now; his eyes glow and he's stronger than a human could be. He hasn't aged at all since I rescued him, and I mean his hair won't even change. If he cuts it, it grows back within seconds; new wounds heal at a normal human rate but he has cuts on his back that have been fresh since he woke in Hojo's room with Zack."

"What happened to Zack?"

"Well, whatever Hojo was trying to do worked on Zack and not Cloud. Hojo wasn't aiming for immortality- Zack has been dead a long time."

I stayed silent.

"Cloud didn't take his death well...When I first found them, Cloud wasn't even able to form words. He was so weak and out of it, it was unbelievable. Zack helped for a while, but he died in a fight...He was protecting us from a pack war. His body was still human enough to be destroyed by the wolves."

"So what happened..." I stopped and gestured vaguely at Cloud. "Earlier?"

"It didn't start until after Zack died. Sometimes, Cloud just has these spells..." She shrugged. "He can't breathe, he can't see, and he starts losing control over his body. I can't stop them, I can only make him fall unconscious a little faster so that he's past one of the bad stages."

"One of?"

"For a couple of hours after he snaps out of it, he's back like he was right after I- well, right after we rescued him and Zack from Hojo. Cid helped. For those few hours, Cloud can hardly speak or move. At first I thought he didn't remember what goes on when that happens, and at first he didn't, but now he's aware of what's going on. He just can't respond to it."

"Is he awake now?" Because that would make me feel so horribly awkward. Hi, Cloud. Don't mind us, we're just discussing your complete helplessness, here. Nothing terribly important.

"No, he isn't awake yet," Aeris replied immediately. "But this is why the apartment has no doors, and why Cloud doesn't stay out by himself too long."

"The staying here I can understand now," I said slowly. "But there not being a door, that still doesn't make sense to me."

"When I don't get him calmed down right away, he tries to head back to the Citadel," Aeris explained. "He'd never go there on his own while he's thinking straight, but after one of these episodes he always wants to go back to the Citadel and," she faltered a minute, " And see Zack."

"But Zack's dead," I said, confused.

Aeris nodded. "But for the next several hours Cloud won't know that. For some reason his sense of time is horribly skewed long after every other symptom of the attack is gone."

"And the thing with my blood?" I asked, feeling somewhat possessive of my hand.

"That," she said wearily, "is because you were both literally raised by wolves, and I can't deal with being Alpha to anyone besides Cloud. He is _more_ than enough for me."

"But we're not really wolves," I said flatly. I may have thought I was human, but I have always known that I am no wolf. It would have...simplified things. I like to think it would have, anyway.

Every little kid wants to fit in, right?

"I know, but for some reason the pack instincts become ingrained in anyone who is brought up by werewolves. I had to get you to accept Cloud as Alpha, because I can't deal with you challenging me for the position."

"I wouldn't have-" I started to protest, but she cut me off.

"Yes, you would have," she said flatly. "Probably without realizing it. But I don't want to be stuck fighting you for a position I don't want."

Cloud groaned and moved slightly. We cut off our conversation and both looked at him.

To my surprise, now that I thought about it, I had grown deeply connected to Cloud. It was even similar to what Reno had described feeling for his Master, although a vampire seethe isn't the same as a wolf pack. Since the pack hadn't been inclined to have friendly chats with me, I'd go with what I had learned from Reno.

At any rate, I really did not like seeing Cloud in this state. It made something in my mind that had been a vague idea begin to harden into a goal.

Cloud made a pained sound that might have been an attempt to speak and the fingers of his right hand twitched, very slightly. Aeris looked up at me anxiously, finally drawing her wings back from around Cloud.

"Yuffie, I need you to keep an eye on him for me, all right? I left Nanaki in a hurry and it's important that I talk to him." She looked back at Cloud again. He was looking at her and he managed to curl the fingers of his left hand around her right. She gathered him into her arms and, signaling to me to help her, got him into the bottom bunk.

"I'll be back as soon as possible, Cloud. Look after Yuffie for me, all right?" And with that, she stood and vanished, leaving me with Cloud. I sat down beside him on the bed, draping the comforter over us both, and put my back to the headboard as I drew my knees to my chest. I kept my spikes away from Cloud and listened to his breathing. The sound relaxed me and I couldn't tell if it was because he was my friend or because he was my Alpha.

It was going to be a long night.


	5. Brave New World

**Dark Embrace **

**V. Brave New World**

I stayed up all night, keeping an eye on Cloud. He spent the better part of three hours staring at the ceiling, his breathing ragged. At one point he had tried to roll over, at least I think that's what he was trying to do, and now he was stretched out on his side with his forehead pressed against the side of my leg. I was worried; hadn't Aeris said this stage only lasted for a couple of hours?

Cloud was utterly still, save the uneven rise and fall of his chest. I was drifting to sleep, my eyes too heavy to keep open, when I heard him whimper and then speak.

"Zack..."

I opened my eyes. Followed Cloud's eyes to where they tracked across the room.

And started as a young man with long black spiky hair and violet eyes that glowed from within like Cloud's smiled at me, waved to Cloud and vanished. Cloud sighed.

"Zack..." Shaken, I looked at him.

Had I really _seen_ that?

Cloud shifted slightly and looked up at me through messy blonde bangs, mussed from his earlier fit. "Aeris doesn't see him," he said drowsily, and his hand clenched on the fabric of my pants, the sweats he'd given me the day before. "She thinks I'm crazy," he added, his voice muffled in the sheets. His voice grew quieter yet, became lost and sad. "She says he's dead..."

I couldn't bring myself to speak. In the week I'd lived with him, I'd never seen Cloud act like this, and he was scaring me and my reaction was scaring me.

I never had an Alpha before. I never had a _friend _before, unless you counted Reno. I was learning what exactly the words friend, Alpha, loyalty, love- I was learning what they all meant tonight. In the space of a week I had learned all four for the first time.

Cloud is my friend.

Cloud is my Alpha.

I'm loyal to Cloud, but I don't know what that means.

I love Cloud, but I don't know what love is.

I could just as easily say that I was in love with Reno. There are things I did with Reno, some in that endless black of the locked Arena, some later and more risky, there are things I did with Reno that I've never done with Cloud. That I don't think I could do with Cloud, for more reasons than I want to think of.

But Reno isn't Cloud and Cloud isn't Reno and it isn't the same thing.

My fingers trace the scar on my ankle, where a chunk of flesh has never quite grown back after Tifa's fangs ripped it away. And Tifa was supposed to have been my Alpha, was always slightly angry with me that I never accepted her as Alpha. If what I feel for Cloud makes him my Alpha, then I don't see how Tifa could ever have earned it.

"Zack," he says again, and my hand closes on his shoulder without my permission.

"I saw him, Cloud." Did I say that?

Blue eyes, faint but still casting their own light, look up at me. With eyes like those, Cloud will never experience dark like the dark I shared with Reno so long ago.

"Yeah. You saw him, too." He smiles. "She say's I'm crazy...and she must be right, because some of my memories aren't mine but his, and some my of gestures aren't mine but his..." He trails off and my hand clenches again. My other hand is tugging nervously at my collar and I'm not sure how it got there.

After a bit neither of us spoke, listening to the rise and fall of each other's breathing, mine slightly too fast to be human when compared to his. Little things that reminded me I was not the person I had thought I was. This is the second time in my life I've fallen asleep beside someone, but Cloud's body is warm instead of cold and before there was no calming breathing to listen to. There had only been a possessive arm of ice and iron thrown over my chest then.

There are more dangers than the obvious ones in sharing blood with a vampire.

I wonder if he knew my blood was not human. He couldn't have; the Citadel vampires feed only on the blood of stray wolves, the ones Sephiroth brings in from the outside. So he would have known only that my blood was different. Sweeter, he had said, and with a strange hint to it, of woodsmoke and firelight and the dying sun. I wondered how he knew what any of those things were. He wouldn't tell me.

But this is Cloud beside me now, and he's never tasted my blood. He's shared it, and it runs in him now as well as me, but I have some of his as well. I wonder what that means for us both. Shared blood between vampires and werewolves creates a being that is destroyed as soon as it is found out, a wolf that thrives on blood. Between a dragon and a human, I don't know. I wonder suddenly if Aeris has shared blood with him before, conclude that she must have, he is human-angel-dragon-experiment raised by a pack of wolves.

_ And what am I?_

I don't know.

Like I said, it was a long night.

I don't remember ever actually falling asleep. At some point it must have happened, because I woke slowly to the feel of an arm draped over my chest and soft hair against my neck, Cloud nestled at my side with his breathing finally even. Despite Aeris' words, he never made any attempt to run to the Citadel, but maybe he has merely learned that the apartment has no door.

It occurs to me slowly that there is still something off about the 'Alpha' arrangement. There is no doubt that I will protect Cloud, always, from anything I can, but something is not right. If he's my Alpha, why have I spent a night comforting him? You don't see your Alpha helpless. And then there's what complicates things, the way I can't help but resent Aeris slightly for linking me to him in a bind that doesn't ever reverse. She didn't live in the Citadel, she didn't live with wolves, she doesn't know what the Alpha bond means.

...Do I?

She's standing in the doorway, watching me. Watching us. I look up at her, shake black strands out of my eyes and see her lips quirked in a smile. I wonder suddenly if she loves him. She's been taking care of him for over six hundred years. He told me she believes he's crazy, but she's been keeping him safe from harm for longer than six centuries anyway.

I feel out of place, suddenly. What right do I have to be here? I don't know what love is. A vampire told me the definition of the word deep in an endless night when there was nothing but me, him, the fight and the thirst. And then there had been both more and less, and he'd whispered the word love and he'd seemed upset when I asked him what that word meant, said curiously that I'd never heard it before. He told me the definition, but then admitted that he wasn't quite sure what it meant either. He said he knew once before the seethe, but that was in a time he couldn't remember.

Aeris is standing over us now, one hand on my shoulder. Something about her always suggests light. I don't think Reno would like her much, but I don't know Reno all that well. He isn't like the wolves; I don't think he's like Tseng or Rufus, either. He yearns for light, I think. Why else did he lo- enjoy my blood so much? Blood like light and fire, sunset and sunrise. Neither of us _knew _what the sun looked like, but the suggestion lays in my blood and mind all the same.

I have the sudden overpowering urge to light a fire. Aeris laughs suddenly and moves away, and throws open the curtains on a bright sunrise. My eyes go wide with shock.

Light falls in dazzling splashes over spires and towers, rising up to blind me and moving in a way that seemed alive. Light is thrown up from a million glittering surfaces and Aeris sits down beside me on the bed, taking my fingers in hers, and with a shock like the old electric fire of shared blood and shared body I stare into the green eyes of the Beta wolf.

Wolves run in packs. Vampires stay to their seethes. Kitsune to their clans. Humans, I believe, used to have something called families.

But we are none of those, and Aeris is not-quite a Beta and Cloud not-quite an Alpha, just as I am not-quite a wolf. There is more balance in these relationships than in a pack or seethe or even a clan. Maybe this is what the humans called family?

"Hey, Yuf," Aeris says quietly, and the nickname rolls easily through my mind. I turn to her with a tired grin.

"Yeah?" I wrap my arm tighter around Cloud. "Hey, he stayed here. He never tried to leave." I hesitate, plunge ahead. It isn't in my nature to keep my mouth shut.

I have scars to prove that.

"Zack was here. I saw him."

Aeris shrugged easily, didn't give me the look of alarm I was half-dreading and half-expecting. "I never have. No one else has, so it's always seemed like it was something Hojo...installed." We don't really all fit on the bed, her left arm and leg are hanging off awkwardly, but she doesn't seem to care. "He only sees him after a fit, and sometimes Cloud mixes up thoughts and memories between himself and Zack, so I don't think he's really there."

"I saw him. Quite clearly." I raised my hand, the one she was holding, and pointed towards the corner of the room. "He was standing right there."

To my surprise, her eyes filled with tears. She wiped them away before they fell. "That was his favorite spot. But that doesn't mean he's real. It's a small amount, but you do have some of Cloud's flawed blood. You could merely be hallucinating with him." She sighed and, somehow, curled the rest of herself onto the covers so that we were all on the bed. It only occurs to me now that we've spent the night on top of the blankets. Oh well.

"I have a mission for you." My head swings toward her in shock.

"Al-already?"

"Yeah." Her head falls back, green eyes closed, and I wonder when her wings spread around us. "I can't send Cloud, and even in the short time you've been here...I can't imagine you leaving. We've had other rescues stay here for a short while, but no one like you. I want you to contribute to our little pack. This is home to all of us."

Gee, I'm flattered. Even the vampire never spoke to me of a home. It's... a new concept, I guess. Wait, he did speak of home, but only as something we could never achieve. It was the most emotion I've ever seen from a bloodsucker, disregarding what came before and after that discussion.

"You got involved with a vampire?"

Shit, did I say that out loud?

"Um...Not intentionally. Not even willingly, really." Aeris is watching me bemusedly. Hey, I bet she can't fight the spell in a vampire's blood, either. "I, uh, we were kinda trapped, and, um, he like..." Dammit, now I'm blushing and stuttering like a moonstruck pup. Hatchling. _Whatever_.

She's watching me, amusement dancing in the clear green.

"...Look, he needed the blood, okay? A starving vampire isn't a pretty sight." I rubbed my arm absently. No throat access, so improvisation had been necessary. "I didn't know there were...other complications."

"There aren't, generally speaking," Aeris said serenely. "Since the victim doesn't normally survive. But Reno is young as vampires go; he had no way of knowing that."

I jerked. Cloud mumbled in his sleep and I hastily smoothed back his hair; he fell back to sleep. "You, uh, you know Reno?"

Aeris laughed. "Quite well, actually. He's one of our main informants; the Turks are corrupt in more ways than you think. Most, if not all of them, did not come to the Citadel or even become a vampire by choice."

"Reno's an _informant_?" Wow, that was difficult to grasp. The Reno I knew was a bloodthirsty fighter, among...other things.

"Reno is the one who alerted us about you. He said he didn't think you were what they had all thought you were, although he wouldn't elaborate more than that. But if you've shared," she paused suggestively, "blood, that would explain things further. He did seem unusually anxious about this rescue."

Rescue, oh yeah. "You said I had a mission?"

"Yeah, I don't want to send Cloud because this one is a rescue from Hojo." _Shit_. "He's been there for a while, but apparently Hojo had kept the rest of the Midgar level from even hearing a rumor about him until recently." A ghost-smile. "Seems it slipped out in the uproar over the loss of the human." Oh, that's just great. "Anyway, Reno's pretty alarmed over this one. For one thing, the Nibelheim level seems to have been in on it, but he can't confirm that because there was a major fire on that level. No one left." Again, _shit_. "Reno's your contact; he'll get you in there tonight. We can get you in and out, all you have to do is retrieve our rescue."

"Who's the rescue?" If I concentrate just right, not quite too much, this is like being briefed before a fight.

"I don't know the details, but Reno says it _ sounds_ like Hojo has a starving vampire in there." Dammit, Aeris, are you completely unfamiliar with the word 'rookie'? One starving vampire has been enough to last me a _lifetime._

Then again, that same starving vampire has considerably lengthened my lifetime, at risk to himself. And the thing that strikes me as odd about that is, Reno isn't good. He enjoys the killing and the blood. He's even been suspended from the Arena a few time because he killed when he could have disabled. And yet...he's an informant. He made sure I was rescued. He was rescuing another even now.

"All right. When do we go?"

Her eyes glinted. "Right now."

And that was how I ended up where I am now. Standing in a room of the Citadel that made my own look like a palace. Staring at what was in front of me.

Reno was guarding the door. Seeing him again wasn't as awkward as it could have been; he was all business tonight, although he did greet me with a warm smile. It was strange in his pale face.

Back to what was in front of me. I was really, incredibly, fervently glad that I'd come out of my experience with Hojo with only a collar and some strange cuffs to show for it. This guy was dead white- not like the vampires, who still false-flushed according to emotions or battle fury, but _dead white_- had long hair trailing down behind him, half-slit eyes that revealed dull glowing red embers. His fangs grazed the edge of his lip. He was hanging from the wall in chains, his arms pinned out to either side in a mockery of the Crucifixion. Ironically, this pose usually only had relevance to vampires; no one else is Christian anymore.

Yes, we're all going to hell. I'm pretty sure we're already there, though, so it's kind of a moot point.

What do you mean there's no fire? Nibelheim would disagree with you.

He was half-conscious. One arm was chained too tightly to allow any movement; the other was a brass claw that dragged at the chain. An iron cuff latched across his neck to the wall, another across his waist, his feet dangling inches from the floor. I used the spikes on my wrist- they're not silver, Reno says they're some form of alloy and, in his words, 'pretty damn bitching'- and sliced through the cuffs and chains. I caught him as he fell, turned to Reno and signaled. He moved into the room and wrapped his arms around me, teleporting to the meeting point. Vampire teleports, unlike angel teleports, are exceedingly painful to those of us still breathing. Just so you know.

The meeting point was the only church in By av Engel. No one has come here for services in years, dust lays thick across the place. Reno stayed longer than he is supposed to, longer than is safe, but he is reminding me of that strange week and of something that wasn't love, not really, or I don't think it was, but was the closest we thought we would ever get. The dark is associated with Reno, but with the Reno made of ice and iron. And even now, that's all he is, ice and iron, and I think of Cloud and the sunlight and the fire Reno says he tastes in my blood and wonder again about the emotion he calls love. I don't think it's the same as what Cloud called love. And I don't think that's the same as what Aeris called love.

Damn, this is confusing.

I look at the man in my arms. His breathing is shallow, but he does breathe. Reno says, in a strange off-handed manner, that he might be doing so only out of habit. I wonder if Reno ever catches himself breathing.

Reno has to leave. The sun is rising. He gives me a red cloak I remember from the week of endless dark and blood and tells me to make sure the new vampire is covered when the sun shines in through the stained glass. Aeris is late, but he says it happens a lot. It makes me think of Cloud's fits and worry.

The man's eyes open slowly, slam shut again at the dim light of the candles on the altar. He isn't really awake. He needs blood that I'm hesitant to give. I draw the cape over us both. He really is quite attractive, pale skin and all. The only manmade vampire in By av Engel.

The only one. That must qualify him to join our pack-coven-family-clan. I chuckle slightly, but it really does appear to be the criteria. The only human, the only angel, the only dragon, and unless the outside seethes are _incredibly_ different from the ones in the Citadel, the only vampire not born of a blood-bond death. I caught myself tracing the lines of his face.

Reno said his name was Vincent.


	6. Get Worse Get Better

**Dark Embrace**

**VI. Get Worse Get Better**

It must have been false dawn when I saw him. He knelt in front of me, all black hair and laughing violet eyes, and he lays a hand on the newmade vampire and looks at me and smiles. And then he is gone, and I think I hear thank-you on the wind. And I know why Aeris is late again.

And I wonder if it was really him she loved, and if she looks after Cloud as one final favor to him, and the idea seems possible. But irrelevant, really. I think I'm finally starting to believe what the vampires say of angels: that they are able to love everyone.

Finally, finally, Aeris comes to get me. Us. The gray light of dawn is spreading rapidly and I've been amusing myself with pretending the cape is a fort, a stupid game I learned from the vampire at midnight when neither of us were where we were supposed to be. A vampire's teleport may be painful, but something painful is often worth it.

I stand up slowly, stretching, let him slide to the floor and make sure the cloak covers him. Reno said I should keep it; I think Vincent is going to need it much more than I do. Aeris steps forward, the light haloing around her, the only angel in the city wreathed in light within the only church. I guess that would have more meaning if the old religions weren't all but dead. Reno taught me some, bits and pieces of his Christianity, but I have to admit Tifa's 'rules of combat' made more sense to me. And finally Reno admits that yeah, the religion seems strange to him too, but he's a vampire and this is what they follow.

But none of that is important right now. The familiar flash of feathered white brings me home.

Cloud is there, of course, where else would he be, and he moves over hastily on the bed so that I can lay Vincent down there. I sit down beside him and start to speak but instead find myself simply staring at Cloud, drinking in the details of the planes and lines of his hair and face. The way the sun streams in the window and catches in his hair, the soft glow of his eyes- it's a strange comfort to see him in front of me and all right.

"Hey, I'm going to leave you three alone, all right?" Aeris smiles. "He might not be ready to deal with all of us at once, and I don't think he wants to wake with an angel hovering over him. You two should stay; you know what it's like in the Citadel." And Cloud knows what Hojo is like, but she doesn't say that.

She leaves, shuts the door softly behind her, and I blink when I hear the click. I look at Cloud and he shakes his head faintly. "Zack didn't say anything about the Citadel today."

Well, I think I'm going to ignore the strangeness of that comment and focus on helping our rescue. Wincing slightly, I slash my palm across where it has already been slashed by Aeris. Oooh, pretty scar. Dammit, Yuffie, focus.

Before I can stop him, Cloud slashes his hand across my spikes as well and places it beside mine as blood drips on Vincent's parting lips. My eyes widen, I haven't got time to warn him, but then the blood drags us into the dark and there's

_noairnoairnoaircan'tBREATHEnoAIR _and there's a horrible pressure around my waist and I can't think straight, see straight, move because there isn't enough oxygen or blood to my brain. There is no _air_ and I can't _breathe _and the pressure is getting _worse_, it's constricting and it's to much and I hear a voice whisper something that sounds a little like Jenova and something that sounds a little like ease off a minute but I can't concentrate but then it slackens and I gasp in air and something is forced down my throat, something wet and red and warm, and something holds my jaw shut and I swallow and _it isn't enough_ then the pressure builds again, and I can't move not even a little because my arms are held fast against my sides and my ankles are chained by a living rope and every tiny muscle flex _that wasn't enough, please, I need more, please_ makes it constrict more, it's tight, tighter, and another tendril snakes almost lovingly around my neck (discordant note, why is it bare) and bares my throat like an offering and he takes it, prick prick prick prick, and surely this kind of pressure would snap me in half and

I wake up, one hand clawed into Cloud's shirt, my face is buried in the crook of the vampire's neck. He is holding my hand away from his mouth, looks horrified, and Cloud's hand is held away as well. I roll away and he lets me, land on Cloud who doesn't seem able to move. Then I realize Cloud isn't moving because he's been thrown back into a fit and I wonder despairingly why Aeris locked the door. Not that it mattered, I was too drained to move, Vincent wasn't strong enough and Cloud is paralyzed at the moment. Zack's closest to the door but he's dead and probably not there at all.

And that was only the first night.

Vampires need a lot of blood, and while giving blood isn't quite the same as sharing it, especially when there's two of you doing the giving and only one doing the taking. there are still some unexpected dangers. Like the way we all found our way into each other's dreams during that week. It was never hard to know whose we were in, Cloud's was all summer days and blue skies and Aeris and Zack and sometimes they were really Zack's dreams so maybe there were really four of us in this dreamscape then; Vincent's were all steel and snow, I guess all vampires are cold metal, and mine were firelight and sun-stained skies. It was an intense experience, but usually not a pleasant one.

At some point during the week scales started trickling down my arm. By the end of it my right arm was clearly a dragon's claw.

When Aeris finally came, and it was right when we'd all regained our strength though I don't know how she knew, we all desperately needed to get outside. So I dressed in some of Cloud's old castoffs again that were really Zack's old castoffs to begin with and wrapped my arm in bandages to hide it and Vincent dressed in Cloud's black bodysuit and bandaged his arm too and wrapped Reno's cloak around himself and we all went out into the city.


	7. City of Demons

**Dark Embrace**

**VII. City of Demons **

Aeris led us into the city. She stayed ahead of us, me beside Cloud and Vincent half-hiding behind me. It's been a week and he hasn't spoken yet.

I'm flexing my arm curiously, staring at it while trying simultaneously to not draw attention to it. The spikes on my wrists have managed to actually incorporate themselves into my arm, so that the scales on my wrist rise up and into spikes. On the dragon arm, though, they curve forward instead of sticking straight out, better for offense.

I feel a hand lightly squeeze my shoulder in warning. It has to be Cloud; otherwise I'd have moved before I knew he was near me. Vincent can't get that close, although I don't think he would anyways, and Aeris can't get anywhere near me at all. Especially not now that I'm actually starting to show more dragon characteristics. If I ever doubted Aeris before, I don't now. I glance up at Cloud and he gives my arm a warning look; I smile sheepishly and drop it so that it swings at my side. I'm not supposed to be using that arm at all, really, but if you've ever tried to switch to using one arm...well. It isn't easy.

Although Vincent doesn't seem to have a problem.

He won't speak. He won't move his left arm at all. Hell, he won't even _move_ until me or Cloud gets annoyed enough to haul him to his feet and get him moving; Aeris he ignores completely. I can understand why he's like this, after all Cloud and I have seen a pretty good number of his Hojo-flashbacks in dreams, but it's still aggravating. Cloud went through some pretty bad things, too, and he hasn't shut down like this.

Well, maybe he did, but I wasn't around then. I wasn't _born _then. Or...hatched. Or...oh, screw it, I don't care.

Aeris wasn't too thrilled with all of us wanting to get out. She said we were safer in the apartment. She was kinda snippy about it, to be honest. Maybe she was jealous that I'd spent the week in a prolonged dream with Cloud? Nah, that didn't seem right. After all, Aeris had left me with Cloud alone for a week, no half-dead vampire needed. Can a vampire even _be_ half-dead? I guess not. Half-alive? No, sounds too healthy.

"You guys could have at least cleaned up your room." Aeris' voice interrupted my thoughts, which was good because they were fast approaching incoherency. But bad, because she was edgy and it showed in her voice.

"Zack said he'd take care of it," I said absently, and there was a long and awkward pause while Aeris tried to pretend she hadn't heard that. Cloud twitched slightly, I could feel it because his hand was still on his shoulder, and then went still. For one thing, I'm not supposed to see Zack at all; for another, it's been almost a week after the last fit, so no one should be mentioning Zack. Unspoken rule, I guess. And Cloud's fits are apparently usually a lot more spaced out, he never has three this close together. I guess Aeris has good reason to be on edge.

I like it out in the city. Vincent doesn't- (fearpain) dammit, I can _just _sense his emotions on the edge of my awareness- but then Vincent doesn't seem to have worked out yet that he's a vampire. It's twilight and Cloud and I have to keep yanking Reno's cloak back over him; Vincent keeps trying to slide it off and look at the sun. Since that would probably blind and certainly cause great pain to him, we have to keep stopping him. Aeris tried to help but he just...well I think he teleported, because suddenly her hand was closed on empty air and he was ten feet back and staring at her, scared. She can't get anywhere _near _him.

Aeris stopped abruptly and there was a loud _whirring_ noise. I'm not really clear on what happened but suddenly I was crouched in front of Cloud, bandaged arm out in front of me with the spikes ready, and Vincent was in battle-stance in front of me. Aeris must have been behind Cloud. Yeah, she was, because she pushed him aside with a sigh. "All right you three, it's just Nanaki's alarm system. You can wait out here if you'd like; I'm just talking to him for a minute and then we're going into the shops and picking up some stuff for you."

Yeah, I guess Vincent and I should stop stealing Cloud's clothes. The laundry must need to be done more often with all of us sharing one wardrobe. I wonder who's doing the laundry? Aeris, I guess, though I never see her doing anything...Heh. Or maybe Zack is.

Cloud must have nodded to Aeris, because she's gone inside the battered building and he's leaning against the wall with his eyes shut. I sat down beside him and mimicked his pose; Vincent stayed standing, staring blankly down the street. At least he stopped trying to pull the cloak off. Maybe he got burned when he dodged Aeris.

After a short while I felt Vincent move to sit beside me and cracked one eye open to glance at him. He was pressed against the wall beside me, knees drawn to his chest, head tilted down. I could just see a fang peeking out from the corner of his mouth. He was running his tongue (thirst?distress) over it, like he couldn't believe it was there, and I groaned when I realized how long it had been since he'd fed. Too long, and he needed blood besides mine and Cloud's; I remember Reno explaining that much, that the blood has to be varied or it isn't as energizing.

Of course, Reno had also said that mine was an exception, but he was lying. I think.

So when Aeris returned, I stood up quickly and gestured at Vincent. She understood; if not right away, then when she saw him chewing on his lips with his fangs. She sighed and stepped between me and Cloud; I pushed back my instinctual reaction, to move past her and stay in front of Cloud. Dammit, doesn't this Alpha thing come with an instruction manual?

For your information, the Citadel has instruction manuals for fights. And Cloud has an Atari.

"All right," Aeris said calmly, pushing stray hair from her face. She seemed to be much less snippy after talking to her friend. Personally, I don't find werewolves calming, but to each her own. "This is what we're doing. Yuffie, you and I are going to get clothing. Cloud, you are taking Vincent hunting. And we'll meet at the church when we're done. Agreed?"

"Vincent won't leave me."

"Yuffie doesn't know where the church _is_."

"Yeah, I do!"

Aeris sighed. "We don't have time, so how about- Yuffie, _you_ take Vincent hunting, and Cloud and I will pick out some stuff for you. We'll meet at the church, if you're sure you can find it. If you can't, come back here and we'll come get you. Is that all right?"

I looked at Vincent. He had stood back up at some point and was behind me, eyes downcast. I glanced down at my clothes. Black with faint color-splashes that vaguely suggested tie-dye, battered jeans with kanji scrawled down the side. They suited me.

"Umm, y'know, I think I like these clothes after all."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Yes, Aeris, that's all right." He clapped me on the shoulder briefly. "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

I sighed and turned to Vincent. I know better than to touch him, so I wave my hand in front of his face. "Hey, c'mon, I guess I'm taking you out to dinner tonight." When I glanced behind me, Aeris and Cloud were already gone. I hooked my bandaged arm deep into a pocket and hoped no one would ask me about it. Then I started walking deeper into the city, knowing Vincent would follow me.

I stared up at the sky. Twilight had darkened into true night, and since there is no light in the city of By av Engel outside the buildings, the stars were bright and clear. I followed them with my eyes, caught up with the way the night sky blanketed the ruins of the City of Angels. It seemed appropriate.

(...beautiful...)

"Yeah. They're great, Vincent. I wonder if I ever saw them before the Citadel." But I can't remember back that far. I've tried. I wonder now if Hojo has something to do with that; he does seem awfully fond of screwing with other people's memories.

(...you...rescue...whywho?)

Damned fragmented thoughts. "I rescued you- _we_ rescued you because you needed rescuing. And I'm Yuffie. Yuffie Highwind." The name slipped out without me consciously deciding to use it. "Now c'mon, you've gotta be hungry." (distress) "Hey, I've known people with stranger eating habits. Don't worry about it, it isn't your fault." And I really have known people with stranger habits- habits like taking a sip of sunset-fire blood twice weekly- but he didn't need to know the details.

And this is how I found myself hunting with a traumatized, newly made vampire. The difficulty here was that there aren't a whole lot of, uh, victims out wandering the streets of the City. Eventually I found him one, a young girl shivering alone in an alley, a wolf I thought, and I felt a brief moment of regret; she looked so young, my age at the most.

But she could have been a hundred, I don't know how old I am anyway, and if we didn't get her someone else did. The Turks or the SOLDIERS, probably. So I pushed Vincent towards her gently, hoping his instincts would take over.

They did.

He leapt faster than I could see him move, blurred across the distance to her, and fastened his fangs to her neck.

She looked up just as his fangs sank in, eyes wide, and my blood ran cold as I recognized Jesse. Jesse, the one who had always been kind to me, Jesse sitting there rubbing her gloved hands together, Jesse- _who had been looking for me_. I burned with the need to ask her- was she looking for Tifa's sake, or her own, or Sephiroth's or even Reno's- why had she come this far- but the light in her eyes dimmed and went out, and she slid bonelessly out of Vincent's arms, shifting subtlety until it was a wolf that lay still on the cracked pavement. Vincent back away slowly, then turned and ran to me, gasping, his arms around me, but I could only stand still, shocked.

Jesse.

Vincent had his face buried in my shoulder.

He was gasping but vampire's can't cry.

_Jesse._

And Vincent couldn't do anything unless Hojo had allowed it, anyway.

The bandages were loose. Some were uncurled and hung, revealing greengold scales.

_JESSE!_

And the floodgates opened, and I doubled over and knocked Vincent aside as a horrible pain erupted in my back and all along my legs and spine, and it felt as if I had something inside me trying to claw its way out. And my spine felt as if it was pulled, painstakingly, inch by inch, out of my body, my back seemed to burst wide open, my arms and legs itched.

And after eternity, I straightened, panting, and saw Vincent on the ground before me where I'd unintentionally thrown him, wide-eyed and staring.

My long, powerful tail twined around my legs, brushing the floor and quirking back up. My arms were both scaled, the spikes part of my dragon-armor-skin. My legs had scaled as well, my feet transmuting into large claws that had burst Cloud's old sneakers apart and left deep furrows in the ground.

I flexed the set of muscles I hadn't had before and my wings spread wide.

"Vincent," I said very slowly, "we need to leave, now."

(trust) I wondered at that and (safety) got an image of myself standing before him in Hojo's rooms. Oh. _I_ was safety.

"Aeris helped," I sighed, but he was looking back at the body _Jesse _and shaking. He didn't hear me. I bent down- awkwardly, my knees moved differently- and grabbed his arm. I picked him up carefully, crouched down, launched myself and flew.

If I thought the sky was beautiful from the streets, it was nothing compared to this.

We made it to the church all too soon, and I flew straight in through the doors. Aeris and Cloud weren't there yet.

Reno was, though.

Vincent appeared to have locked down completely after his meal in the alley, so I et him down on one of the mostly-intact pews and approached Reno cautiously.

"Who's there?" he asked quietly, not turning. There was a strange sibilance in his voice that I had learned to associate with recent feeding. The city was exceptionally unsafe tonight, I guess.

Vampires and werewolves and dragons, oh my.

"Yuffie Highwind."

Well _that_ made him turn around damned fast. He smirked, but I was studying the fresh scars under his eyes. "Highwind? Not Lockheart?"

"I left that pack."

His voice dropped, eerie velvet, fabric rubbed wrong. "Not Strife or Gainsborough?"

_I will not react_. "Highwind. My name is Yuffie Highwind." I'd said it so often tonight I was starting to believe it. "Where'd you get the scars, Reno?"

His eyes darkened. "From Hojo. He's looking for you." I was studying scars. He was studying wings, scales, the tail held high above my head. The way the collar had so easily become my dragon's crest, pikes lengthening in back, flattening in front for the best angle to attack. "Guess this is why, yo?"

"Yeah, I guess so." I'd been moving closer to him, he'd been stepping closer too. He leaned in so that his face was right beside mine. I could feel his breath on my throat, I guess he does catch himself breathing, as he whispered, "I'm lying when I say trust me."

And he was gone.

* * *

**GuardianSaiyoko: **Would love to know if anyone's still reading this. 


	8. Reason's Rebellion

**Dark Embrace**

**VIII. Reason's Rebellion**

It didn't take them too long to meet us at the church. I sat down at the altar and tested out my wings and tail, so by the time Aeris got there I was doing a pretty good impression of a dragon crouched atop the altar, tail curled around the base and wings spread wide. I was in awe over how powerful my new muscles were.

I wondered at Reno. He said Hojo was looking for me, which was frightening enough in itself, but then he left. He made no attempt to take me with him. While I would love to claim that's because I'm too strong for him, I know better than that. In a fair fight, Reno could definitely take me on and win; my wings and tail were no advantage yet as I was unused to them. In fact, Reno would have had me at a disadvantage.

So why did he leave?

Aeris walked in with bags in her arms and her wings out, Cloud following her. He looked subdued and I wondered if something had happened while they were out.

Cloud went immediately to Vincent and knelt down beside him. He was unconscious, if vampires could be unconscious. Maybe just Hojo-vampires could.

Gods, I hope he doesn't start having a flashback. He could drag me and Cloud with him.

Aeris, unfortunately, was making a beeline for me. Her face was completely expressionless as she took in my changed appearance, and believe me when I say an expressionless Aeris is beyond creepy. Coming to a halt before me, she glanced me up and down, and my wings flared nervously. Oh yay, now I have nervous gestures involving wings and a tail. Note the sarcasm, here, I wasn't terribly thrilled about this. If you'd ever been around a vampire you would know that you're easy enough to read without extra limbs giving away your feelings.

"Um. Hi?" I tried. Oh hey, look, her wings are flaring too. Nerves? No, I think that's panic.

"What happened?" she asked in a whisper, one hand reaching towards my tail as if needing proof it was real.

I was across the room before she could touch me.

"Sorry..." My tail flicked. I looked at Cloud, since I was right beside him now, and saw that he was brushing blood away from Vincent's face. My stomach did a flip at the memory of Jesse's face. "We went...I took him hunting. And I knew...I knew her, but I didn't...it was after, when I recognised her."

Aeris' expression grew sad. "Oh..."

I shrugged, the motion strange with my new wings. "And I guess...the rush of emotion triggered the change."

"I...got you clothes." She handed me a bag. I took it, but without looking inside it. How was I supposed to put anything on over my wings and tail, anyway? They'd just burst holes in Cloud's old clothing. I'd have to alter any of this before I could wear it.

"We should go home now."

Reno's face flashed before my eyes. The fresh scarring, the look in his eyes, the words he'd spoken. Jesse and the knowledge that she'd been looking for me but I didn't know why. "No."

Cloud didn't look up from Vincent. He'd been expecting my answer.

Aeris hadn't. "What?"

"I can't...I can't go back there, I can't stay inside, the dragon won't let me." Even as I said the words I knew that they were true. The new feelings roiling inside me, the ones that came with the wings and tail and intensified the feelings of sun and fire, would rage out of my control if I stayed inside for any length of time.

"We could return," Cloud said quietly, "And you could go flying from the window." His eyes met mine and I saw what he wasn't saying. Not permanent; the stay in the apartment would not be permanent. This was ending, soon, but not quite yet.

And a moment later I saw why, because Cloud's knees buckled suddenly and he slumped against the pew with an angry curse, his hands going white as they clutched it. "Aeris...h...help..."

Another fit...and as long as he had them , he couldn't fight. Not when he could unpredictably go from being an asset to a liability in seconds.

Aeris was at his side in seconds, gathering him to her as I slowly bent to gather up Vincent. Aeris teleported after one last glance at me. I spread my wings and darted out the doors, Vincent in my arms again, and flew through the ruined city. The beauty of the night was lost on me now, Jesse's eyes and Reno's scars filling my vision instead.

Preoccupied, by the time I realized I didn't know the way to the apartment we were far from _anything_ I had any hope of recognizing.

Vincent was waking up; I felt him start struggling in my arms, panicked. He must have thought I was Hojo. I landed on the nearest rooftop and set him down, stepping away to stretch out my neck and sniff. Maybe I could smell out Cloud and Aeris? Almost immediately I knew that wouldn't work. Even if I knew their scent, I wasn't anywhere I could pick it up, and anyway Aeris had teleported. There wasn't any scent trail to follow.

I turned back to him and folded my wings in with a sigh. "Vincent, I hate to have to say this, but I think we're lost."

Red eyes stared at me. I looked at the horizon and cursed; the sun's first rays were creeping towards us. I guess Vincent's hunting had taken longer than...Oh shit, Vincent!

I sprinted for him just as the sun reached him. Everywhere the light touched, his skin began to - to boil, for lack of a better word. His eyes shot wide and he let out a strangled cry like nothing I'd ever heard before. I dove at him and knocked him to the ground, wings flaring out on either side to shield him from the sun.

_Toolatetoolatetoolate don't let me be too-_

(Painfear_pain!)_

I had my arms braced to either side of Vincent, my wings draping over us both like a tent. He was on his back and thrashing wildly, in full panic mode. I managed to snake my tail around his legs and hook my claws around his arms, pinning him frantically, but now he was staring me in the face and breathing harshly. His eyes were terrified and I watched him swallow thickly.

_My tail..._ Involuntarily my tail twitched. Vincent flinched heavily, knocking his head on the ground. Of course; it was reminding him of Hojo. I loosened my grip, but didn't let him up. Not when my tail and wings were keeping the sunlight from him. Instead I studied where the sun had hit, the way his skin had blackened and...wrinkled. There were angry black streaks all over his exposed face and throat, although Reno's cloak had done a good job of protecting him.

"Vincent," I said, keeping my voice soft. "I'm going to move now. All right? I'm going to lay down at your side and I want you to stay beneath my wing and tail. You got that? It is extremely important that you _stay where you are._" I watched him for an answer. Finally he nodded, not taking his eyes off me, and I sighed in relief and edged to his side so that I could lay down on my stomach. I felt Vincent press against my side as my wings shifted slightly; he'd turned onto his side to fit better. I was shorter than him, but my tail and wings made up for it and Reno's cloak covered where they didn't.

"I think...we're going to have to wait for nightfall to find Cloud and Aeris. We should get some sleep..." (assent) "Well then...goodnight, I guess. Or...day. Ah, whatever." My tail twitched. The end of it twined around his waist. He flinched, but then relaxed, and even hesitantly put his human hand on my tail. It felt...strange, the sensation of skin on scales.

He fell asleep long before I did. I tucked my wings in further as his breathing evened out, curling my tail, making sure he was completely hidden from the sun I could feel beating on my back. Occasionally the shadow flashes of his pain shot through me, but while he was sleeping- or unconscious- they were not nearly as strong.

I sighed and stretched out, careful not to move from Vincent, and relaxed as I listened to him breathing. He did still breathe; I didn't know if he would stop. Reno had, but Reno was more...ah...traditional. In a manner of speaking.

I don't know when I drifted off. I did eventually; the rustle of wings awoke me. I blinked sleepily and laid my head on my arms, glancing up to see where Aeris was.

_His eyes are glowing._ "Hi, Cloud," I said groggily. The eyes merely blinked at me.

They were green. _Not_ Cloud.

Sephiroth.

* * *

**GuardianSaiyoko: **So you know what I just realized? I have absolutely _no_ idea what the pairing in this even _is_ anymore. It could be just about anything at this point.

And uh, sorry about the cliffie. Heh. hides

...reviews?


	9. Storm the Sky

**Dark Embrace**

**IX. Storm the Sky**

I leapt to my feet and slammed up my arm just in time for Masamune to catch the scales and slide harmlessly off.

_Damn, damn, __**damn!**_

This was really high on my list of bad ways to wake up.

I darted backwards frantically, wings snapping out at the last second to lever me up and away from a particularly vicious sword-stroke. I touched down again a second later, whipping my tail around to trip Sephiroth- unfortunately, he saw it coming and stepped aside, smirking. I growled and brought up my spikes, intending to thrust my arm forward and the spikes into his throat, but he was behind me before I knew what was happening. The flat of the Masamune slammed across my back, sending me stumbling forward and stars dancing across my sight. There was a whistling noise and I ducked instinctively, the sword sailing past overhead.

Vincent, miraculously, was still asleep, Reno's cape still covering him. Sephiroth was much too focused on killing me to notice him.

I turned the duck into a roll and came up facing him. He lowered the sword briefly and nodded to me, smiling, a predatory smile, and then the blade rose again. I dove forward- at him, which he was _not_ expecting- and past him and ended near Vincent and the forgotten shopping bags. Metal glinted from one of them and I snatched it instinctively, coming up out of the roll to land on my feet and bringing up the weapon. A giant shuriken- that was an interesting choice, Cloud…

I raised it just as the Masamune slammed towards me. The sword caught against it, the force of the blow sending me skidding backwards along the roof, claws digging deep furrows. My wings flared again, and on Sephiroth's left side, a single angel wing flared as if in answer.

_One wing._

As soon as I came to a stop, I wrenched the shuriken down and away, sending Masamune flying. It materialized back in Sephiroth's hand in an instant, but an instant was enough. I shot upwards, into the air, flapping my wings as powerfully as I could to do the near impossible and fly straight up.

_One-winged angel._

One instant I was in the sky, staring down at Sephiroth, framed in the bloody sunset. the next, I was in the Arena, kneeling, looking up at him as he smirked down at me. I was covered in blood and panting, licking the taste of iron from my lips.

_Memory?_

"You will do well, little dragon."

And then I was in the sky, plummeting towards the raised Masamune. I twisted in midair, desperate the avoid the gleaming metal, but it skidded straight at my neck. _Too fast-_

-and the collar fell to the rooftop, sliced neatly into pieces, the brightscaled metal looking odd against the dull roof. Startled, I missed the landing and stumbled, landing heavily on one knee. I raised the shuriken as a block, but Sephiroth had lowered his sword and no longer seemed interested in attacking me. In a bizarre mockery of the odd memory flash, of my first battle at the Citadel, he stood over me as I knelt, panting. There was no blood this time, and we were outside, but the similarity was eerie.

After all, this was my first fight outside the Citadel.

Sephiroth took a step toward me. Another, and his wing slid smoothly into his back as if it had never been. Another, and he stood directly over me. And this time, unlike that one, I dared to look up.

What I saw surprised me. There was _compassion_ in those glowing green eyes, and _respect_. When he reached out a hand to me, I took it without thinking and allowed him to pull me to my feet. He steadied me until my balance had returned and I stepped away, staring at him.

"You have done well, little dragon."

My hand rose to my neck, bared, but showing signs of where a crest had begun to grow. "You...knew..."

"I knew." The voice was just as I remembered it from this mirrored moment, low and somehow musical.

"But...You didn't..."

"Tell Hojo?" He laughed, an odd sound. "Why should I tell that imbecile? He, who thinks Cloud and Zack both failures, thinks them both dead...If he lacks the intelligence to spot that which is right under his nose, why should I bring it to his attention?"

There were shivers crawling up and down my spine. My eyes locked with his, glowing green, similar to Cloud's but so much different.

"How is Cloud, by the way?"

_Protect Cloud._ The command screamed through my veins, written into my blood, don't answer him, _protect Cloud._ I don't know if it was because of the Alpha bond, because I saw Cloud as my saviour even though it was Aeris that had first offered her hand, or for some other reason altogether. It didn't matter; what did matter was that almost my entire being resonated with the command. At the same time, it fought the command programmed into me while I was still in the Citadel- obey Sephiroth. Protect Cloud. Obey Sephiroth. _Answer him._

I don't know which command would have won out, because suddenly I was stepping forward and my mouth was moving, but it wasn't me speaking. "Cloud's doing as well as can be expected, after you let that motherfucker Hojo have him." If my body had been responding I would have clamped my hands over my mouth in horror. I may not be good at keeping my mouth shut, but I have no desire to discover what being skewered by the Masamune feels like.

Something flashed in Sephiroth's eyes after not-me spoke, something that closely resembled recognition. My body stepped even closer to Sephiroth, looking unblinkingly up at him. It didn't react even when Sephiroth cupped my chin in his hand and stared into my eyes, making me deeply uncomfortable, no matter how I cursed and railed.

"Hmph. I cannot kill a dark-haired child," Sephiroth uttered, letting his hand fall and turning away. This would have been a perfect moment to grab Vincent and run, but my body had other ideas. As did my mouth.

"Oh, but you have. You left us to Hojo, Sephiroth. You left us for dead." My voice was ending in a growl. Only it wasn't my voice; there was no way my voice could ever drop that low.

And when my body reached out a hand and let the largest sword I'd ever seen materialize, well, there's no way I could do that either. The sword swung down right where Sephiroth was standing, gouging the rooftop, Sephiroth leaping away lightly at the last minute. But he was confused, and off balance, and the next slash scored a thin line of blood down his arm.

I hit him. _I hit Sephiroth_. And he was _bleeding._

...Well, my body hit him, anyway. And the next series of swordstrokes, though most didn't land, added to the lines of blood. Sephiroth was actually being forced on the defensive.

The sword was brought up and over my head, held there for an instant, and then slammed down so fast it actually released an energy shockwave. The Masamune flashed out just in time to absorb it, or it might have done some real damage. As it was, the energy vibrated up the sword and shook Sephiroth's arm. He stared at me for an instant- an instant too long, as the sword sung up again, down again, split off at the end and sent three sharp blades racing towards him. He jumped, but not fast enough; one of the blades caught his ankle.

"Zachary! That is enough!"

_Zachary?_

The sword was raised in front of me, positioned for the next attack, and I caught a glimpse of my eyes in the shining blade.

My eyes were violet.

* * *

**GuardianSaiyoko:** Any pairing including Zack, apparently. Because he just _had_ to be included, he wasn't meant to be in here. 


	10. Way to Heaven

**Disclaimer: **When the hell did I write this? Warning, strong language in this chapter.

**Dark Embrace**

**X. Way to Heaven**

_Zachary, I did _not_ agree to this!!_

Warm laughter greeted my silent shrieking. _Sorry, little dragon, but there was no other way. _

Steel clashed on steel, sent sparks flying, sent Sephiroth skidding one way and me/Zack another. I kept trying to catch glimpses of myself in the Buster Sword or the Masamune, but it was kind of difficult since Zack was controlling where my eyes looked. But my eyes were _definitely _violet, and the lock of hair in front of my face was black and much more unruly than normal.

(_confusion_)

_You know what? It's getting REALLY FUCKING CROWDED IN HERE._

I 'felt' Vincent's mental flinch and Zack's laughter. Block, parry, sidestep, swing. I do have to admit, Zack was beyond good at fighting.

My-_our_ wings suddenly levered us up and away. I hadn't realised I still had them, much less that Zack knew how to use them.

_I don't_, he whispered inside my head. _But you do, and so I can_.

...I'm just going to pretend that made sense.

"Zachary!"

Oh, lookee, Sephiroth is speaking to him again. Zack levered us up over Vincent, hovering over him; I just hope Vincent has the good sense to stay still.

Zack is continuing to hover, but he holds the Buster Sword still and listens to Sephiroth.

Sephiroth lowered the Masamune. "Zachary. I mean you no harm. Nor do I wish harm to Highwind, Strife or Valentine."

_Highwind?_

_Me._

_Oh._

"Then what is it you _want_, Sephiroth," Zack growled. Sephiroth flicked his wrist and the Masamune disappeared.

"The same thing you do," Sephiroth said mildly. "I want to kill Hojo. Brutally and slowly. And I know how to do it."

Zack dropped lightly to the rooftop in front of Vincent, who was sitting up, dazed. Zack shouldered the Buster Sword and said softly, "And why should I believe you? We were your _friends._ We might not have come to By av Engel willingly, but you took us in, you looked after us...I thought we _meant _something to you!" Zack was yelling now, and I could feel the sting tears in his/my eyes. Zack blinked them away. He turned away from Sephiroth, steadied Vincent as the fledgling vampire tried to stand, and continued, "We would have done _anything _for you, Seph. _Anything _ you asked of us, we would gladly have done, because you took us in when we were in danger of dying on the streets, brought us to Midgar, taught us to fight." Zack's voice dropped so low that I wouldn't have heard it if he weren't in my body and he stepped away from Vincent to face Sephiroth again, raising glowing violet to meet glowing green. "_We would have done anything you asked us to. _But you gave us away, like property, like fucking _toys_, and you left us in Hojo's hell for fifteen fucking years. When you return to the Citadel, Sephiroth, look in Hojo's rooms. Look in the back, in the Mako rooms, at the walls. There are five thousand, four hundred and seventy five scratches in the walls- one for each day that we waited and you didn't come."

The Buster Sword came up and Zack tensed into fighting stance, a low growl rumbling from somewhere deep in our body. "Tell me why I should listen to anything you say!"

"I cannot force you to listen. Still, it would only serve to benefit you."

Zack lowered his sword just slightly and shook our head. "How? How can it benefit me? It's too late, Sephiroth. Don't you get it yet? I'm _dead._ This is...this isn't even my body! I can't keep it-" _you better not-_ "it's Yuffie's body and Yuffie's life. And you almost ruined her life, too! Hers, and Vincent's, and who knows how many others!"

Sephiroth held out a hand, almost plaintively, but I can't imagine him ever being plaintive. "Zachary. What has happened has happened. There is nothing to be done now. Nothing...but to kill Hojo. And we can do it, together."

"No, we can't," Zack said quietly. "You and Yuffie, maybe. But I'm dead, and Vincent is barely aware yet, Aeris is a healer and not a fighter...and you let Hojo shatter Cloud's mind, over and over and _over _again. Can you repair that, Sephiroth? _Can _you?"

"There is Tifa, and Reno. Barret, and Nanaki, and Reeve. They are all prepared to help."

"That isn't what I asked you."

_Zack?_

_Yeah._

_What's going on?_

_How you feel for Cloud? Imagine he handed you back to the Citadel, but to Hojo instead of Tifa._

My sense of betrayal at the mere thought echoed so strongly that Vincent actually cried out.

_Yeah. Now you have an idea of what I'm feeling right now. _Zack shot back into the air, brought my tail around and slammed the end of it into Sephiroth's gut, sent the one-winged angel skidding backwards. The single wing flared out again, making Zack pause in his attack. Sephiroth raised his glowing eyes again and hissed, "You are not the only one who has been tormented by Hojo."

Parry, block, repeat. Like the label on that shampoo Cloud has.

I caught myself forcing down a hysterical giggle, which was ridiculous because it wasn't like it would have been heard by anyone but Zack anyway.

"We shall go to him together," Sephiroth murmured. Zack narrowed my eyes.

"You know what, Seph? I thought you'd come when the wolves attacked. After all, you came the first time. You'd rescued us that time. But you never came, and this time, I didn't survive. And it's your fucking fault. Yours." Zack roared and swung the Buster Sword in a high arc around my head before leaping into the air and slicing swiftly down, watched as blood tracked its way down Sephiroth's chest. Sephiroth flicked his hand out to the side again, but this time it was the Buster Sword that disappeared. Quick as thought, he was behind me, arms encircling my waist and holding Zack in place. The embrace, if it could be called that, was loose, but his grip was iron. Zack tried to break away and couldn't. He tried again and Sephiroth tightened his hold.

"Listen to me, Zachary. What I did then was not of my will. Cloud's is not the only mind that was meddled with. Yours, Vincent's, Yuffie's...mine." I felt my eyes widen, either in Zack's surprise at Sephiroth or my surprise at my own name. "Do you understand, Faire? It was not my choice to make. I cannot repair Cloud's mind. I cannot return you to life. I cannot bring Highwind back to what she is supposed to be, or give Valentine back his humanity, or even fix the flaws in myself."

And he stepped away, leaving Zack to fall heavily to one knee. He twisted my head to say something to Sephiroth, but we all froze as a hoarse voice said softly,

"Yuffie."

It was the first time I'd ever heard Vincent speak. Zack and Sephiroth turned as one to face the shakily standing vampire. Long hair brushed against my back- that was Zack's hair, then, mine had never been that long.

Vincent had wings.

Huge, black, leathery ones. Reno's cloak came up far enough to cover Vinnie's face, but I could still see the dread in his eyes, feel it reverberating in my skull.

(_fearpainconfusionguiltshame...safety)_

And at the end if the kaleidoscope of emotions, the sky seemed to flash, and then we all stood in the apartment with Aeris starting up from the bed where Cloud was laying, barely conscious.

"Sephiroth!" As soon as Aeris spoke, Cloud shot up, eyes opening to blazing blue. It was dark outside; Cloud's gaze, Sephiroth's gaze and my own lit the room in shades of blue and green and violet.

Cloud's eyes widened and brightened impossibly when his eyes met mine. "_Zack!_"

My hand reached up and scratched the back of my head. Zack smiled sheepishly. "For a little while, anyway."

_Stay for a bit,_ I grumbled, but he knew I meant it. _Cloud looks so...happy to see you. And hey, I'm young, I'm a dragon, I have time._

There was a shocked pause, then a soft, _Thank you_. I never knew so much emotion could be packed into those two little words.

Unfortunately, time was still passing, Sephiroth was still there, and Aeris was still panicking. And this all added up to one massive, _massive_, angel-strength spell that was probably _supposed_ to be aimed solely at Sephiroth going off in the room. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Aeris was panicking, as I believe I've already mentioned. So her aim was a little off, and consequently she hits me/Zack, too. Somehow, this managed to rebound through me to Vincent and through Zack to Cloud.

Long story short? Cloud, Sephiroth, Vincent, and I/Zack, still in different corners, still with our gazes locked, all found the ground rushing up to meet us as we all fall unconscious at once.

And the dream world is about to get even more crowded than my mind.

* * *

**GuardianSaiyoko: **And this is where the story managed to spiral completely out of my control, it seems. Hi Zack, you're not supposed to be here Zack, go away.

**Zack (possesses Yuffie):** I think I'll stay for a bit!

**Guardian:** Dammit.


	11. Naught's Skyway Part One

Well _this_ gets dark and crazy fast. You've been warned.

* * *

**Dark Embrace**

**XI. Naught's Skyway Part One: Dreams of Desolation**

* * *

Guess where we are.

No, really. Guess.

And when you figure it out, tell _me_, because I'm really confused now.

I stood up and walked over to the wall to peer at a picture. Yeah, the picture. On the wall. And weirder than that, Zack got up from his place slumped against the opposite wall and followed me.

The photo on the wall was...odd. Primarily because it couldn't possibly exist, but also because it appeared to have been taken in this room. It was a group photo; Sephiroth was standing on the left side, looking properly annoyed at the fact that a grinning Zack had one arm around him and another around Cloud. Cloud had a strange, wistful smile on his face and me on his other side, grinning like an idiot as I wrapped my right arm around his waist and draped my left arm loosely over Vinnie all the way on the right side of the photo, Vincent's expression hidden in Reno's cloak.

I didn't even notice that my fingers were tracing the photo until Zack laid his hand over mine. I looked up and into violet eyes.

"Nice to see you in your own body, bro." I have _no idea_ why I called him bro. It didn't make sense. I barely knew Zack, despite the whole possession thing.

But I sure as hell felt like I did.

"Because you know Cloud," Zack said absently, turning away to look back at the small circular room. I gave him a _look_.

"So what, now you're still in my head, even when you're out of my body?"

Zack shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure _whose_ head we're in," he nodded towards the wall again. This time I turned to look and beheld Cloud curled on his side on the floor with his back to a ratty couch, Vincent actually on the couch, and Sephiroth facedown on the floor, head pillowed on his arms and chest rising and falling slowly.

...They were all _asleep_.

...We're in someone's _mind_! How can they be _asleep_!

"Good question."

Dammit, Zachary, get out of my head!

Violet eyes lock with mine, the vivid spark in them dulling for a moment. "Believe me, Yuffie, I would if I could."

I sighed and stepped over to Sephiroth, toeing him in the side warily. He looked so innocent asleep it was creepy. He always looked innocent asleep, though. Unless he had a nightmare, but he only had those after visiting Hojo. And it was only me and Cloud that knew about them, anyway.

...Wait. Huh?

"Dammit, Yuffie, get out of my head," Zack mocked jokingly, coming up behind me to lay a hand on my shoulder and look at the sleeping trio. His other hand came up to rub absently at some spikes, and disturbingly enough I could _feel_ the action. This wasn't like Vincent; Vincent was only emotion-echoes, and they stopped when he was asleep/unconscious/not feeling any particularly strong emotions. Zack was just...there. It was strangely seamless, his thoughts and mine.

I wonder if this is how Cloud feels.

"Yuf, there's a door over there. Should we see where it goes?" Unspoken; _I don't think these three are going anywhere. _

For the first time I looked, really looked, at the room. It wasn't spectacular. A stone-walled, circular room, like one of the garret rooms at the Citadel, with a ratty couch and an ornate rug on the stone floor. There were two thick blankets folded at the end of the couch; I pulled one over Vinnie and the other over Cloud. To my surprise, Zack tugged the rug over Sephiroth, shrugging in response to my questioning look.

It would have been pointless to ask him why. I knew why. I knew that Sephiroth-as-savior had been firmly imbedded in his mind when he was young, after Sephiroth had saved him and Cloud from a wolf pack. I knew that later, after Sephiroth had given them away (_we were your friends. weren't we? your friends?...never knew we were just more pretty toys for you to play with...pretty little puppets, pretty little pets)_ he had switched gears to Sephiroth-as-betrayer. And then Hojo...I knew that Hojo had seriously fucked with their heads, infused the final idea. The idea that they could never disobey Sephiroth. It was _taught _to everyone in the Citadel, but this was different. This was _eat, drink, breathe, obey Sephiroth_.

I knew a lot more than I wanted to.

Zack _had_ disobeyed Sephiroth, but he could only do it because he was sharing my mind and body, the command diffusing so that it pulsed in both of us weaker than him alone. And it _still_ took massive willpower from _both_ of us to shunt the command aside.

There was no way in hell Cloud could do it alone.

"How come you can possess me, anyway?" It was more comfortable to speak aloud. "I mean, Cloud would make more sense."

"Yeah, but Cloud's mind was shattered," Zack pointed out. "Trust me, there isn't room for me in there. As far as why..." He gestured to my palm, the one that was scarred in an _x _from when Aeris had healed Cloud. From the blood exchange. Of course. "Far as I can figure."

Zack and I found ourselves moving as one toward the door, with one last glance toward the slumbering trio. We didn't really want to leave them there, but we sure as hell weren't going to be able to move them.

Zack stepped in front of me and turned the door open. I would say he did it cautiously, but that'd be a damn lie, and liars go straight to Hell. According to Reno. Who was planning to throw a massive, wild party when he got there.

_Anyway_...yeah, Zack just kicked the door open and walked out. I'd say this was stupid but hey, I followed him anyway.

On the other side of the door was this odd circular staircase. Odd not because it was circular, or a staircase, but because it was glowing faintly in tints and shades of blue and green and violet and suspended only in a sickly growing green mist. Green mist disturbingly like what Cloud and I had been suspended in for over fifteen...

"...Zack, bro, this better not be permanent."

"Hey, I don't know how this works. I don't make a habit of possessing people, all right?"

"Gee, I'm flattered. Not."

"Grow up."

"Make me."

We started up the staircase, still bickering. Did I mention that at intervals, the Mako mist gave way to rooms that surrounded the stairs? No? Well. It did.

The bickering stopped abruptly when we entered the first of those rooms. I felt Zack shrink away behind me as a part of his mind I hadn't been aware of suddenly became prominent in my mind.

This room looked circular from the outside, like the room we had just left, but inside it was a six-by-six cube. Solid stone, nothing on the walls, I knew if I looked behind me where Zack was frozen in shock there would be no door. The only door into or out of the room was directly in front of me and it only opened from the other side.

In the middle of the room Cloud was laying on his back on the floor, staring unseeing at the blank ceiling. His eyes held the same terrifying dullness I'd seen after the first fit. Zack was curled on his side next to him, covering as much of him with his body as possible, holding him as if he was the only thing that was _real_. Thanks to the joys of sharing Zack's mind, I knew this was exactly how it felt. The room was freezing and the two men, clad only in thin training clothes, were shivering like mad.

Sound started slowly filtering into the... memory? This _had_ to be a memory. So we were in either Cloud's mind, or Zack's. The room wasn't as empty as I originally thought; there was a loudspeaker mounted on the wall, spewing out a soft monotone.

"...such good little boys. Yes, you are good boys now. Not like before when you didn't do as he asked. It's so simple. You can follow simple directions, can't you? No, apparently not. You're not smart enough for that kind of a task. You're weak and worthless. He wouldn't have given you away otherwise. He needs his pets retrained. He needs you to know how to heel and fight on command. You can do that, can't..."

And it just went _on_ like that. The Zack I was with wrapped his arms around me from behind, lowered his head into the back of my hair, trembling with the need to hold on to someone. Someone real. Someone who wouldn't hurt him.

I couldn't stop staring at memory-Zack and memory-Cloud. It was like a train wreck; you didn't want to watch but it was impossible to look away. Zack's leg was broken, twisted at an unnatural angle, and his wrist was broken too. His ankles were chained together, even though Cloud's weren't, and a collar around his neck was chained to a collar Cloud was wearing. I had a sudden flash of my _own_ memory, of Cloud striving to find a way to take off my collar, and then of Sephiroth slicing it in two. My hand crept to my neck; it was still bare.

Slowly, it occurred to me that it would be a good idea to get real-Zack (dead-Zack, whatever, I couldn't think that 'cuz he'd hear it and he was already unhinged by now) the hell out of here.

How.

I didn't know how, lack of doors and all, so I did the next best thing and started trying to calm him down. I turned around awkwardly, his arms still around me, and looked down at him. Which was odd in itself, since Zack's like a head taller than me in his own body, but he was kinda curled in on himself. "Zack. Hey, Zack. Snap out of it, bro." I shook him a little. His head snapped up to look at me and his eyes seemed a thousand miles away. "Bro? C'mon. It's over. You're safe. He can't hurt you again, all right? You know we wouldn't let him. Me and Aeris and Cloud and Vinnie and you, we'll stick together, right?"

Zack didn't say anything. But out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the walls were changing, and I lifted my head a little to stare at them.

Photos. There were more impossible photos on the wall. I stepped towards them, bringing Zack with me. The first one I saw was of Zack sitting in a field and smiling up at the sky, his back to Cloud's, their hair tangling together in streaks of black and gold. Cloud's eyes were closed but he was smiling, too. The Buster Sword lay forgotten on the grass beside them. I nudged Zack and got him to look at it, breathing a sigh of relief when I felt his mind clear a little. I moved to the next photo.

This one made me pause and wonder about the ache inside it caused. I suddenly wanted, very very badly, for this one to have been real. Or at least, Zack wanted it to be. Of course, it would have been nice if the other photos were possible too, but my breath actually caught in my throat at this one.

It was a tree. A giant, leafy green tree, that branched out everywhere. Cloud was sitting on one of the lower branches, leaning sideways against the trunk with a wistful grin on his face as he stared out at the imaginary cameraman. Above him and on the other side of the tree Zack was laying on a branch with his head pillowed on his arms against the trunk, napping. And finally, at the top of the photo, Sephiroth was sitting on a branch with one knee drawn up, the Masamune dangling carelessly from his hand so that it hung down a little ways from Cloud. This time, the Buster Sword was plunged into the soil at the base of the tree.

"Zack? Bro?" Finally, Zack roused. He looked at me tiredly, but his eyes were starting to glow brighter again.

"...Yuffie..." He brought a hand to his head, then clenched it into a fist, shaking, suddenly furious. "Yuf...I..." He shook his head helplessly. "We were...we were his friends...right? Friends...why would he..." And then he lapsed into silence, but I could still hear him in my head, and all I could do was stand there like a useless idiot.

_We were his friends. And he gave us away. Just like that, just handed us over, no explanation or warning or _anything._ Why? Weren't we good enough for him? What the hell did we do wrong that he'd just... just give us away? _

_Hell, maybe we were never his friends. Just his...pets. His possessions. Yeah. That sounds right. He found us, and we were broken, and he fixed us and kept us and so we belonged to him. Like a little kid with a toy he found in the street._

_But..._

And the room is dissolving around me, and we're running up the staircase, and Zack doesn't notice but we're in another room.

_But even then..._

This is a dorm. Not like my room in the Citadel, a nice room, like the room I share with Cloud now. Only the bed in here is only a twin bed and Sephiroth is sleeping on it in full armour. Besides the bed, there's a dresser in the corner and not much else. There are sheets tumbled together on the floor against the wall, enough room between them and the bed to walk, and Zack and Cloud are curled up asleep on top of them. They're curled up together because...

..._because we only have each other. Because we've always only had each other._

"...Zack..."

"My dad remarried," he said tonelessly. He was looking at me now and his eyes were darkening gradually. He saw the room we were in now but it only seemed to deepen his depression. "His new wife didn't like me, so she got rid of me." He brought his hands up to rub at his arms. "She gave me to the town council to raise, and they shunted me around until I was eighteen and kicked me out on the streets..." Closed his eyes, which was a relief because I didn't like the way the light was fading in them. "Why does everyone give me away?"

Yeah, I didn't know what to say to that.

And Cloud...? I caught myself thinking.

_His house burned down...He had no friends...They blamed him...He ran away, he was crying in an alleyway, and I was sleeping in it and I woke up and asked him if he was okay and...and..._

_...and no one had ever asked him that before..._

"...So he came with me. We left for the city. The City of Angels; we were going to make lives for ourselves here, as mercenaries, as jack-of-all-trades. But..." Zack gestured at Sephiroth's room and the memory came to life, the two of us just frozen ghosts in the background now.

Sephiroth stirred first, levering himself up off the bed and kneeling down beside the two on the sheets. I could see now that they were shivering and injured. Sephiroth put one hand to his head and sighed, then turned back to the bed, tugged the covers off and spread them over Zack and Cloud. Then he left and I heard the door click locked behind him. I paused for a second to wonder why Sephiroth's door locked from the _outside_ at all but Zack didn't know.

I frowned. "If you're still unconscious, how come the memory is moving?" I questioned, and Zack shrugged. He seemed to be drawing back out of his depression, though, which was good.

In what seemed like no time at all, and might have been no time at all, Sephiroth returned and knelt beside Zack and Cloud again. He cautiously took off his gloves and placed his hand on Zack's forehead, frowned, then slowly ruffled Zack's hair. Zack's eyes cracked open.

"...whuh?" He tightened his grip on Cloud protectively, not sure where they were and fearing the worst; that the wolf pack that had come after them had gotten them and was saving them for later.

I looked at Zack. He shrugged. "Don't _look_ at me like that. I didn't know anything about werewolves at the time, all right? They could have been partial to midnight snacks for all we knew."

"You are very badly injured," Sephiroth says, and his voice is not the one I know now. It is still deep, but without that musical lilt, and oddly hesitant. He doesn't sound used to speaking. "You should probably not be up."

Zack sat up slightly, still holding Cloud, Sephiroth's hand stilling on his head as Sephiroth seems to realize that he is still gently ruffling Zack's hair. Zack makes no move to remove Seph's hand, though, because he kind of enjoys that feeling. Usually a hand anywhere near his hair has pulled it during a fight.

"Zack, while the inner workings of your mind are _fascinating_-"

"Shut up, Yuf, it isn't my fault."

I fail to see how it isn't his fault, seeing as _he_ possessed _me_, but I managed to return my concentration to the memory anyway.

"Yeah, well, I don't do what I'm supposed to most of the time," memory-Zack said, and made a valiant attempt to stand. Sephiroth drew back as Zack struggled slowly to his feet with the aid of the wall, Cloud hanging limply in his other arm. "Now then, I had a sword with me, and so did Spike here. Large, bulky, damn hard to miss- if you'd just return them we'll be on our way."

"You are in no condition to be leaving." His eyes glanced to the side where two swords leaned against the wall; a strange sword that I didn't recognize at first but somehow knew was called the Yoshiyuki, and Zack's Buster Sword. I was suddenly seized with the _need_ to have the familiar, comforting weight of the Buster Sword in my hands or, failing that, strapped to its place on my back.

And it's not even my sword.

* * *

**GuardianSaiyoko:** I'd like to finish up my major Teen Titans story before working on this, but I won't be abandoning it any time soon.


End file.
